Talk:Dororo/@comment-39699458-20190605003149/@comment-39230916-20190605042604
Ok, so firstly, I want to establish that this one statement I'm about to make concedes your entire argument to me by making it invalid. Dororo does identify as male even though he is biologically a female. It does not matter how Tezuka felt about trans people (even though he has proved to be for trans rights and trans people's ability to transition from characters in Black Jack, Astroboy, and Princess Knight.) This is because Dororo personally identifies as male. You can talk about why he does this, but saying that he is a girl disguising himself as a boy is false. The wiki page will keep Dororo's pronouns as male and his gender will remain as "Female (identifies as male.)" That is a more technical way of saying a "trans boy," but the admin of the article doesn't seem to want too many people getting angry (but people are still angry, so I guess it does not amount to much.) Now we can get into specifics. Saying that choosing to raise Dororo as a boy to avoid rape or violence is ignoring the existence of Dororo's mother. Ojiya was arguably the most influencial person in Dororo's life. She took care of him, her husband, and the clan. She was a powerful, dangerous thief who would kill samurai alongside the thieve's clan. She fed and fought for her family after they were left for dead and continued to do so until her death. I don't see how you can say that Dororo has had no positive influence from the women around him. It was not just his mother that he thought fondly of and respected. There was Mio (who was a sex worker) and a few other female side characters that he cared for. I don't see how Dororo had no other choices when he's had positive influences from stong, independant women. You say that the term "transgender" did not exist (I'm not sure if you meant the historical period or during Tezuka's time) so it wouldn't make sense if Dororo was that way. This argument is laughably weak. Just because we may not have terms to describe certain things, that does not mean those things do not exist at all. Did gravity not exist before it was scientifically discovered? Was the existence of trans people not observable throughout history? I've heard some people talk about the video game, but the game only serves to be canon within itself. Tezuka had died before it was created, so I don't see how you can say that it is a credible source when talking about the manga. It was created separately from the work it was based on. It is an original work based on another story. If you want to say that Dororo is cis in that adaptation, it seems that you are right. But the manga has shown Dororo's gender to be trans, especially considereing the fact that he will fight tooth and nail with the people closest to him when they call him a girl. Getting embarassed or uncomfortable from people touching you is not exclusive to women or girls. Dororo is a young person who is not familiar with physical contact. This seems to speak more to how he had to live on his own rather than being a biological female. Because of Dororo's age and backstory, it seems to be a better argument to say that he is embarrased due to lack of social and physical interactions. I don't know why people continue to bring this up as a good point to counter the trans argument, but it seems pretty clear that these people rarely debate about gender or anything in general. Tezuka has always been for marginalized groups, and he's often talked about the societal implications that trans people have had to face within his hundreds of manga. While there are instances in his works that show that he had problematic views by today's standards, he is an excellent example of a progressive writer. He was not only progressive in the writing/artistic world with his new ideas and stories, but as a person advocating for social justice. Like I said, his works like Princess Knight (which works to empower people of different genders and choose the one you feel closer to) are great examples of this. As the anime is now, it has not denied Dororo's gender. It is possible that they could make Dororo decide to identify as a girl later in the story, but as we know it now, Dororo's gender is the literal definition of trans boy. I would be fine with whatever gender the kid identifies as . I really don't care. But what I do care about is people attempting to erase Dororo's gender (which has been known for decades) by linking weak arguments together while ignoring the fact that Dororo is most comfortable identifying and living as a boy. I could care less if Dororo was a buff 30 year old gay cis man riding a stallion. All I care about is the facts of the situation. Dororo has been a trans boy for a long time now. You are late to the conversation.